Land and Water Systems – ReachOut: UBC Land and Food Systems Newsroomhttp://reachout.landfood.ubc.ca
Updates from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBCThu, 17 May 2018 16:28:18 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.6BC Drought Brings Water Conservation Issues to Forefronthttp://reachout.landfood.ubc.ca/2015/bc-drought-brings-water-conservation-issues-to-forefront/
http://reachout.landfood.ubc.ca/2015/bc-drought-brings-water-conservation-issues-to-forefront/#commentsMon, 23 Nov 2015 23:59:44 +0000http://lfs-reachout.sites.olt.ubc.ca/?p=4052

Professor Emeritus Hans Schreier

This past summer, British Columbia faced a record breaking drought that brought water conservation issues to the forefront of public concern.

“We’ve never had to worry about water in B.C. before, so it’s come as a bit of a shock,” said Hans Schreier, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Schreier, who retired in 2007 after more than 30 years with the Faculty, has remained active with his research in land-water interactions, soil processes and water chemistry. “Until very recently we always assumed we had enough water and now we’re at the point where we’re going to have to compromise and share it with the environment.”

Paying for our water usage is one way to help conserve, according to Schreier.

“People think water is free,” he said. “We meter everything else but we still don’t meter water in Vancouver. If we don’t account for it and charge an appropriate rate for it, we won’t be able to pay for things like upgrading, pipes and leakage.”

In 2005, Schreier was involved with a project in the Columbia Basin that surveyed more than 20 communities to find out how much water was used on a daily basis. The numbers were eye-opening: the average person used up to 1,500 litres per person, per day – well above the Canadian average (The average Canadian consumes about 350 litres of water daily, more than double the European average of 150 litres). The project eventually led to a conservation program that offered financial resources to reduce water consumption. Nineteen of the 24 participated in the program, pledging to reduce their water consumption by 20% and 14 are about to reach this goal by the end of 2015.

But individual water consumption isn’t the only area that can be improved; agriculture consumes 70 per cent of our water worldwide.

“We need to find more water efficient ways to grow food,” said Schreier. “We’re going to need to increase food production by 50% over next 30 years in order to feed our growing global population, and Canada is one of about only five countries that has the capacity to do that. From an economic point of view, we have to be careful about what we decide to export, and focusing on products that have high value, are water efficient and don’t pollute the environment.”

We can also learn from other areas of the world that have faced drought. California, for example, experienced firsthand the effect drought can have, not only on the environment but also on the economy. In the past few years, the state has been forced to divert 6% of its electricity needs, normally met through hydro, to natural gas; a move that cost them approximately $1.4 billion.

“For the first time the world’s economic forum in Davos in 2015 has declared water as the greatest risk for business,” he said. “With climate change, drought and flood conditions are going to become more common. Too much water, not enough water, both will have huge global implications. We have a challenge ahead of us and we need to adapt to these new conditions.”

Until recently, B.C. didn’t have groundwater regulations. In 2014, the province introduced the Water Sustainability Act, which will provide new tools to help ensure that water stays healthy and secure for future generations of British Columbians. It will also allow government to manage surface water and groundwater as one resource, provide water users with greater certainty regarding their water rights, and establish clear rules about managing water during times of scarcity.

It’s a start but according to Schreier, even more regulations are needed.

“We’re still in the dark ages in B.C. in terms of water regulation,” and there are few incentives to conserve water he said. “Innovations, new regulations and conservation programs are key to effective, sustainable water management.”

What Can You Do To Conserve Water?

Install low-flow showerheads and taps

Only wash full loads of laundry

Don’t irrigate your lawn in the summer (gold is better than green) and it saves lots of water

Collect your roof water for outdoor use

Reuse your kitchen water to water plants (Greywater use in all new houses)

Eat at least one vegetarian meal a week: raising livestock uses much more water than growing vegetables (15000 L/kg for beef, 1000 L/kg for wheat, 400L/kg for vegetables)

Master of Land and Water Systems

Land and water are essential resources required to sustain the human goals of food security and maintenance of a healthy and productive environment, including all forms of useable energy. Managing land and water as an integrated system provides a framework to aid society to achieve the goals of human security.

The 12-month, professional Master of Land and Water Systems program provides students an opportunity to obtain science based skills, training, and knowledge in the area of Land and Water Systems to address the emerging environmental issues of food security, maintenance of ecological services, restoration of degraded lands, climate change adaptation, and resource conservation.

The MasterCard Scholars Program is an initiative that provides students from economically disadvantaged communities in Africa with opportunities to receive higher education and develop skills to contribute to social and economic progress in their home countries.

Aboubakar, a student in our Masters of Food and Resource Economics program, will focus his research on the constraints facing rural farmers and engaging youth to agribusiness in order to help them be free from poverty.

“Many of the world’s poorest people are dependent on agriculture,” explains Aboubakar. With a BSc degree in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness from the National University of Rwanda already under his belt, he aspires to contribute to the development of his country by creating a program that will empower and engage youth to utilize Agripreneurship (mixture of entrepreneurship and agriculture), and subsequently tackle youth unemployment issues in Rwanda.

He also hopes to educate others in his home country about how to successfully operate a farm business as well as how to tackle the issues that face global agribusiness managers.

Alfred is a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, specializing in Land Reclamation and Rehabilitation of the Forest Resource Technology program. He is studying in our Masters of Land and Water Systems program.

“My long-term career goal is to be a professor and an environmental advocate, so I can help develop the needed human resource base for effective environmental management in Ghana,” he said, adding that he’s currently in the process of initiating the formation of the Land Reclamation and Environmental Conservation Society, in order to advocate the importance of conserving safe and ecologically healthy environments for posterity.

“I’ve experienced firsthand the effects of resources degradation and depletion,” he said. “I hope to help strengthen the coordination between academia, industry and local communities in conserving a safe and ecologically healthy environment for posterity.”

As anyone living on BC’s coastal climate will tell you, we get a lot of rain. So it’s not surprising that rainwater management is extremely important in order to avoid flooding, increased erosion and high concentrations of pollutants in our waterways.

With those issues in mind, last semester students in our Urban Watershed Management course (SOIL 516) partnered with the District of North Vancouver to further understand the role of vegetation and landscape designs in issues of rainwater management and stream health.

The students used the Water Balance Model Express and GEOweb, interactive online tools that allow land owners to assess land cover on their property and see how rainwater will pass through the landscape. The students were able to view the practical impacts of different types of property design, including the effects of redevelopment, and create recommendations on how to minimize rainwater issues in future developments.

“There are some relatively simple solutions property owners can implement to prevent rainwater runoff and avoid issues of erosion and transport of contaminants, like increasing the amount of green spaces in and around properties to help water infiltrate back into the soil and subsurface,” says Julie Wilson, Academic Coordinator of the LFS Master of Land and Water Systems program.

Julie Wilson

She adds that additional research in North Vancouver and other Lower Mainland municipalities is necessary to increase awareness and knowledge of the impacts of rainwater management on property construction and redevelopment.

This project will run in future sessions of SOIL 516.

The Urban Watershed Management course is one of a series of four online Watershed Management courses. For more information, visit the course website.

Julie Wilson is uncovering innovative approaches to stormwater management, even in your own backyard

As the realities of climate change set in, cities need to pay attention to stormwater management if they want to avoid a flooding crisis, says Julie Wilson, Academic Coordinator for our Masters of Land and Water Systems (MLWS) program.

Why is stormwater management important for cities?

Urban centres are projected to grow in many parts of the world. They consume large amounts of resources and generate a lot of pollution. Stormwater management can help mitigate some of the environmental impacts. When rain falls onto the ground, especially in cities, the water can’t be absorbed back into the soil. Water that falls on impervious surfaces, like roads and parking lots, creates stormwater runoff, which is a phenomenon we don’t typically see in natural landscapes. During heavy rain events, excess stormwater can lead to flooding, which can have devastating consequences, both environmentally and financially, like in Toronto last July. Stormwater can also pick up oil and grease before going down a storm drain, where it eventually discharges into an ocean, river or lake, depending on where you are. This can have an adverse effect on habitat for fish and other organisms.

What are some ways people can help manage stormwater at home?

The driveway and the roof are the main sources of run-off to your stormwater system in a single-family home. One way to better manage stormwater is to detach your gutter’s downspout that connects to the storm sewer and replace it with a splash block or gutter chain. This allows water to run down and infiltrate into the soil on your property. Some homeowners create rain gardens below gutter chains, turning them into a water feature. It’s both functional and decorative. Replacing a large asphalt driveway with interlocking paving stones or pervious pavement will also help retain rainwater on your property. Changes on an individual property will not significantly reduce urban flooding, but multiply these small changes across an entire urban watershed and the cumulative effects can be considerable.

Why should the average person know about stormwater management?

Innovative stormwater designs can often be overlooked as we wouldn’t necessarily take notice of them in our everyday lives. But having awareness about these technologies can empower people to think about new developments being built in and around their communities, and ask whether these techniques are being implemented or not. Being knowledgeable about stormwater management makes us think about where we live a lot differently, which hopefully spurs people’s desires to be more environmentally conscious.

Innovations in Stormwater Management Video Series

The Master of Land and Water Systems program team has produced a series of videos that introduce the emergence of innovative designs and approaches to urban stormwater management, at the property, neighbourhood, and watershed scale. Learn more at the UBC MLWS Program website.

Our planet is facing a serious food and water crisis in the next 30 years. To feed nine billion people by 2050, global food production will have to increase by 50 per cent.

Water scarcity is emerging as one of the key limiting factors, which is why Canada, with ample supplies of water and land, could become a major contributor to future global food security. That means increasing our food exports – a very attractive economic opportunity. So what should Canada’s food export strategy be?

Food production uses 70 per cent of all global freshwater resources. Countries with scarce water supplies will increasingly opt to import water intensive food in order to save their remaining water for essential domestic and industrial purposes.

Typical staple crops such as wheat, soybeans, oats and corn require between 800-1,500 litres of water per kilogram of food produced. In contrast, meat production requires between 3,500-4,500 litres/per kg of water for poultry and pork, and a whopping 16,000 litres of water per kilo of beef. A typical North American meat diet requires about 5,000 litres of water daily, while a more vegetable-based diet requires about half of this amount.

In Canada, food for export is mostly produced in the Prairies, where climatic conditions are highly variable and water resources are becoming increasingly stressed. It is vital to account for the water requirement in food in order to assure sufficient supplies are available for all other users.

At present, exporters focus on maximizing economic returns, and this makes meat export one of the most attractive options. Considering how much water this takes, how inefficient such production is in terms of energy conversion, and the water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions generated in the process, this option must be re-examined.

While producers receive significant economic benefits from beef exports, they do not pay for the costs associated with environmental impacts. The costs to remediate water pollution from livestock and greenhouse gases are borne by the public. Economists usually refer to these costs as externalities and they are rarely incorporated in full cost accounting.

Livestock production is now one of the major contributors of non-point sources of water pollution in streams and is impacting major lakes and waterways. Beef generates substantial quantities of methane, which amounts to four per cent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions in Canada (CO2 equivalent).

Climatic variability is a game-changer for the world, and it should be for Canadian farmers. A clever precautionary approach will be to produce food for export that is first water efficient, of high value, and has the smallest ecological footprint.

LFS student Kristina Michaux said her four-month placement in Rwanda was definitely a highlight of her undergraduate career.

The Faculty of Land and Food Systems is pleased to launch two new academic programs to address urgent global issues—from childhood anemia to watershed conservation.

International Nutrition Major

The International Nutrition Major will focus on applied nutrition and food security. The first of its kind in North America, the four-year, undergraduate program emphasizes the application of theory to international fieldwork, explained Asst. Prof. Judy McLean.

“We developed the program in response to the demand from students for more international content in their course work and relevant experience needed to further their careers,” said McLean who designed the curriculum with Assoc. Prof. Tim Green and other LFS colleagues.

The new major will require students to complete mandatory placements with NGOs and organizations such as UNICEF as part of their International Field Studies (FNH 460) course. The course will prepare students for careers in public health, medicine, international development and research, while providing LFS partners with field support for their projects.

“There’s a significant need for people who can hit the ground running, who know how to design, implement and measure community-based interventions, targeting under-nutrition and food insecurity,” said McLean. “Graduates of the major will help to fill this need.”

Watershed Management

Students keen to understand integrated watershed management and soil science will benefit from UBC’s research and teaching leadership in these areas, says LFS Prof. Les Lavkulich of the new Master’s of Land and Water Systems (MLWS) program.

“The future of the planet depends on judicious management of soil and water resources,” said Lavkulich, a soil scientist who studies sustainable agricultural systems, land use hydrology, mining and the environment.

He added, “Healthy land-water systems are essential to the earth’s ecological structure and functions such as photosynthesis.”

The MLWS program will investigate the impact of human activities and climate change along with strategies to conserve and rehabilitate land and water systems. Students will also explore the physical, chemical, biological and climatic processes that impact the soil’s productive capacity in agriculture, forestry and urban settings.

]]>LFS student Kristina Michaux said her four-month placement in Rwanda was definitely a highlight of her undergraduate career.LFS student Kristina Michaux said her four-month placement in Rwanda was definitely a highlight of her undergraduate career.Hans Schreier Honoured for Mountain Researchhttp://reachout.landfood.ubc.ca/2009/hans-schreier-honoured-for-mountain-research/
Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:29:08 +0000http://lfs-reachout.sites.olt.ubc.ca/?p=4293

Professor Emeritus Hans Schreier

Prof. Emeritus Hans Schreier travelled to his birthplace of Switzerland last fall to receive the King Albert I Memorial Gold Award for his contributions to mountain science.

Established in 1994, the King Albert I Memorial Foundation honours lasting achievements in the fields of science, art or social welfare that protect the world’s mountains.

Hans’ research areas include watershed analysis, integrated water resource management and the impacts of human and natural (climatic) events on mountain systems of the Andes, Himalayas and British Columbia. Hans and his team have also devised innovative information technology in community education.

Hans holds appointments in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and the Institute for Resources, Sustainability and Environment at the College of Interdisciplinary Studies.